Memorable Moments With Richard
Please enjoy these short vignettes and anecdotes. Some are humorous, others are painful, but all are eye-opening and worth pondering by others.
MR. MAGOO
Richard was slow at school. Some kids picked on him and called him “Mr. Magoo.” The unfairness of this made one gang of kids take Richard under his wing. One of them was Jack Jenkins. “He was the type of kid who, because of his physical stature and appearance, gets picked on. He couldn’t fight back. He was the classic 90-pound weakling, so the group I hung out with looked after him,” Jenkins said.
In one of life’s little ironies, Jenkins had become deputy warden of the Bridgeport jail, where Lapointe was taken after being picked on in the Hartford jail. Jenkins recognized his walk as they brought him in and called out, “Magoo?” Then Jenkins did what he’d done three decades before. He looked out for Mister Magoo. (Tom Condon. Hartford Courant, 2-21-93)
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MEMORIES OF A SWEET MAN
by Georgianna Nadeau, A Longtime Friend of Richard
Since my partner is Richard Lapointe’s cousin Roger Kent, I have known Richard for 32 years. He is a man who had to move through many hard knocks in his whole life. But he still could tell a corny joke, could laugh over a silly joke and even cry. I saw him cry when he asked me, how he should tell his son, Sean, that his grandmother was dead. How do you tell a little guy that someone he loved so much is no more? I saw Richard when he was so serious and worried about this problem.
Richard, Karen and Sean stayed at our house a lot when we lived in Oneco and they lived in Manchester. It was a place for them to come and enjoy themselves with no worry or fear and know that they were loved.
Richard still has my heart. He has never hurt it, misused it, and he hasn’t killed it just like he didn’t kill Mrs. Martin. I got to know a side of Richard that not too many people have seen. And I wouldn’t change that for all the gold in Fort Knox.
I will never believe that Richard killed Mrs. Martin. And how do I know? I just know like I know I like apple pie with ice cream.
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